Is this a terrible idea?

The red is effectively your load bearing ceiling- I’d go with the first design with at least two diagonal braces. If you can get something to bolt on the wall all better. You may do a couple of holes in the wall above false ceiling height and get away with it land lord wise- it would stop it swinging
 
When I have the money and space, I'll use aluminium truss, so the entire weight is transferred to the floor. The ugliness of the scaff, for this project did't matter, but I do quite a bit of this kind of thing and have some practical engineering comments. Scaffolding is very strong in the vertical plane, so easily capable of keeping a typical rig up in the air. Horizontal scaff deforms when the pickup points end to end start to get wider and the load increased. In a building with solid walls, the key feature of these kind of temporary installs that often become permanent, is that the top load bearing spans cannot move. A rigid 90 degree scaff clamp, or the galvanised type of kee clamps where they use forged components, do not keep a structure safe. Two uprights and a cross piece must be kept upright by fixings at the top, or just putting a ladder on them can break any attempt to keep them at 90 degrees from the floor, by any fixing at the bottom. The thing you must do is prevent the top from moving - so you simply use the horizontals by touching them on the wall, with a spreader plate to help not let the tubes dig into the plaster/timber. The top cannot move in any direction at all, and the weight is carried by verticals. If you use three or four chord truss then no fixing to the wall is required, they become freestanding. If you need longer spans, then two chord truss, used vertically is quite substantial. If you use extruded aluminium, especially the moving type with runners and sliding carriages, they're the most versatile and convenient, but damn expensive. A piece of 6m steel scaff can be in the UK £20-30, the same length of truss could be 300-400, so there is a very large price difference here for supporting lights.
 
What would be an acceptable piece of gear to use to lower a light/camera from the ceiling rig to a variable height considering my initial idea to light stand extensions upside down is unsafe? I am familiar with those accordion style pantograph options, but they're very expensive and also not rigid, which would be a preference of mine.
 
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